The present invention relates to the making of signs or displays from a laminated web.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,467,525 issued on Aug. 28, 1984, and 4,834,276 issued on May 30, 1989 to Gerber Scientific products, Inc., Manchester, Connecticut describe equipment and material for making a sign or display from a laminated web. The disclosed process includes the cutting of a graphic pattern in the web as a first step toward making a sign. In the making of such signs, letters or other graphic patterns are cut in the web, the patterns are then lifted from the web and secured to a permanent substrate, such as the side of a vehicle or truck body, a window, or similar surface.
In known techniques, the web typically consists of a coated release paper to which a single vinyl film of one color has been laminated. This lamination is typically achieved by means of a pressure sensitive adhesive at the interface of the vinyl film and release paper. A graphic pattern is cut in the vinyl film, and the portion of the vinyl layer other than the desired graphic pattern is then lifted from the base manually with a tweezers and discarded, thereby leaving only the desired graphics pattern on the base. The adhesive remains on the underside of the lifted vinyl. The remaining graphics are then transferred to another substrate via "transfer tape".
This process is very time consuming because the following steps must be taken:
1. All unwanted portions of the vinyl layer on the web must be carefully "weeded" away from the release liner with extreme care because they carry a very aggressive pressure sensitive adhesive which will destroy and remove desired portions of the graphic pattern if contact is made between the top surface of the graphic pattern and the bottom surface of the unwanted portions of the web during their removal.
2. After successfully weeding unwanted portions of the vinyl layer from the release liner of the web, the sign maker carefully laminates a pressure sensitive transfer tape on top of the weeded web. The tape with exposed adhesive against the web, is rubbed down with considerable pressure to ensure intimate contact with the graphics on the web.
3. The release liner of the web is peeled away from the transfer tape, leaving the remaining portion of the web (the graphic pattern) attached to the adhesive side of the transfer tape.
4. The transfer tape with attached graphic is then laminated to a final substrate by considerable rubbing on top of the tape surface to ensure intimate contact between the final substrate and pressure sensitive adhesive on the backside of the graphic.
5. The transfer tape is peeled off leaving the desired graphic pattern on the final substrate, thereby completing the sign.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,839 discloses a web and related process for making a multicolor sign, but the process as disclosed therein has many of the same complexities and inconveniences described immediately above. In particular, the process relies on cutting the web to varying depths, and peeling away the base to expose an adhesive for transferring the desired graphic pattern to a final substrate to complete the sign.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,171 discloses another sign-making web which has multiple film layers and is usable with cutting machines such as the type available from Gerber Scientific Products. This web is used to make subsurface signs, in which the desired graphic pattern is not transferred to a separate substrate. However, the web is adapted for, and the process requires, the removal of the base of the web and the securement of a transparent or translucent superstratum sheet on top of the cut graphics to produce the final sign.
Some types of signs that do not require transfer have been commercially available for limited markets. Such signs are in the nature of banners, wherein the web release liner serves as the background of the banner, and the cut graphic remaining in the vinyl layer after weeding provides the desired graphic pattern. Such signs invariably have only one color for the graphic pattern. As in the conventional signs described above, the base layer of the web is a coated release paper. In general, use of the peeled web as a final sign is limited to circumstances where low cost is necessary and low quality is acceptable. The release coated paper tends to curl and wrinkle due to moisture and temperature variations, and is otherwise not pleasing in appearance. Moreover, conventional webs have feed holes along their longitudinal edges which render any sign made from the web itself quite unsightly. The holes should be removed by cutting longitudinally adjacent the edges of the web, which is very time-consuming and is not likely to lead to clean, straight edges.
It is possible that the objective of making quality signs at relatively low cost without transferring a graphic pattern from one substrate to another, might in the past have been considered or discussed by suppliers of sign web material. To the inventor's knowledge, however, no one else has yet discovered a viable technique for making a sign having two or more colors on a base color, without transfer. Nor, to the inventor's knowledge, has anyone else attempted to use a web having a plastic or plastic-lined material for the base of the web, which remains as a visible color of the final sign. Furthermore, no one else has suggested a technique for making a layered film sign without transfer, which also has an optically clear base.
Thus, although computerization has greatly increased the speed with which complex graphics patterns can be cut on a web, the efficiency of the subsequent steps of using the cut web to make a final sign have not been improved upon for many years.